With Myopia Awareness Week 2023 underway, the Global Myopia Awareness Coalition (GMAC) is kicking off its summer campaign across the United States and Canada.
Give me some background on GMAC first.
Launched in 2019, GMAC is an industry coalition of leading ophthalmic companies and eye health associations within the United States and United Kingdom focused on raising public awareness of viewing childhood myopia as a treatable disease.
The organization targets direct-to-consumer communication channels by developing messaging campaigns with governments, non-governmental organizations, and other healthcare organizations.
See here for a list of organizations included in the coalition.
Now talk about this campaign.
GMAC’s 2023 summer campaign will focus on two major points:
- Supplying eyecare professionals (ECPs) and healthcare professionals (HCPs) with educational resources on pediatric myopia to better guide in-office conversations with parents.
- Encouraging pediatric patients’ parents to develop their own ‘Sight Sanctuary,’ which builds on GMAC’s previous Tech Timeout campaign to reduce device usage, spend time outside, and encourage ECP discussions around therapy options and clinical interventions.
Tell me more about who’s involved.
GMAC has partnered with pediatrician Natash Burgert, MD and optometrist Alexa Hecht, OD for outreach on the need for comprehensive eye exams and myopia treatment options.
Where can I see this?
Coalition members have begun sharing GMAC’s message for myopia control via social and media outlets.
Lisa McAlister, chair of the Board of GMAC, discussed the mission of GMAC and Myopia Awareness Week in a recent interview, viewable here.
And click here to listen to Nitin Jain and Layna Mendlinger, co-chairs of the GMAC Marketing Committee, discuss the GMAC’s promotional social media-based campaigns for 2023.
How does this relate to HCPs?
With more emphasis on the broader HCP audience, GMAC has updated MyopiaAwareness.org to include more information and tools that can be utilized by both ECPs and pediatric HCPs.
What’s the overall message?
The campaign is focused on highlighting and raising awareness among ECPs, HCPs, and parents to act as the gateway to recognizing—and helping parents to recognize—the signs of pediatric myopia.
A key item: encouraging pediatricians to refer myopic patients to their ECPs’ myopia management practices.
What else is going on?
GMAC has also updated its parent discussion guide—created as a tool for parents to use when discussing myopia management with their child’s ECP—to include more languages and an insights section that offers more detail on clinical interventions available.
How can I get involved?
ECPs interested in becoming a member of GMAC can go here to contact the organization.